P380 slide hangs open

[marlin]

I have a new P380 and have cleaned, fired 200 rounds and cleaned again.

My problem at the range was that of the slide hung open approximately 175 of the 200 rounds. By pulling back on the slide and releasing a new round was chambered and gun would fire only to have the slide hang again. The slide release lever was not engaging.

The slide works smooth and I experienced no jams or stove pipes. I tried both magazines.

I did notice the bullet to chamber fit is very loose. The ejected brass shows heavy powder residue on 1/3 of the brass diameter. My PM9 does not show powder residue on brass and bullet fits tighter. Could chamber tolerance be the problem?

Suggestions???

[CJB]

First suggestion - have someone else try the gun. I cant imagine the slide locking back without the slide release holding it back... a picture would be helpful.

Second suggestion - tell us what ammo are you shooting?

Third - ammo runs all over the place. Especially cheap ammo. As a rule, there is a certain maximum and minimum chamber size that is allowable as per SAAMI spec. The ammunition size has another SAAMI spec., which overlaps the chamber size somewhat. Obviously the largest ammo cannot be larger than the smallest allowable chamber. Therefore... (and you can see this one coming), barrel and chamber makers will tend to make their chambers toward the larger end of spec, while ammo makers will tend to make their ammo toward the smaller end of spec. That results in a rather casual it of ammo to chamber. Kahr does not make match chambers. Their chambers are middle of the road within SAAMI spec. At least my three Kahr barrels are. Ammo... never can tell. You have to measure it and compare to SAAMI spec. Be especially careful with reloaded taper crimped ammo. Taper crimping on mixed lots of brass can result in some brass being way over crimped, while other brass is only lightly crimped. Lot to lot variation in mixed lots of range and/or odd-lot brass will do that.

[Disapointed]

Bummer, looks like you got burned just like tons of p380 owners including my wife did. She bought a brand new one a month ago. Problem after problem after problem. Had several different people and styls used to make sure we were not OH NO "limp wristing it". Nope. Several 'proper" lube jobs, Nope. Several different ammos used. Nope. Piece of crap brand new out of box, YES. She worte kahr an e-mail, and sent it back via the gun store she bought it. They did not even have the decency to contact here back regarding anything. That was her/our 1st kahr purchase and definitely our last. The hoops you have to jump through to get a p380 to shoot right??? What a joke.
P.S. Her gun had several issues. However the main one was just like yours. The slide woudl not close the last 1/8" after shooting a roudn through it. in other words the bullet would not seat. Lots of kahr owners say polish it, work with it, lube it, spend $$$ on tons of ammo to break it in. For a new $550.00 gun?

[CJB]

Bummer, looks like you got burned just like tons of p380 owners including my wife did. She bought a brand new one a month ago. Problem after problem after problem. Had several different people and styls used to make sure we were not OH NO "limp wristing it". Nope. Several 'proper" lube jobs, Nope. Several different ammos used. Nope. Piece of crap brand new out of box, YES. She worte kahr an e-mail, and sent it back via the gun store she bought it. They did not even have the decency to contact here back regarding anything. That was her/our 1st kahr purchase and definitely our last. The hoops you have to jump through to get a p380 to shoot right??? What a joke.
P.S. Her gun had several issues. However the main one was just like yours. The slide woudl not close the last 1/8" after shooting a roudn through it. in other words the bullet would not seat. Lots of kahr owners say polish it, work with it, lube it, spend $$$ on tons of ammo to break it in. For a new $550.00 gun?


First off - not tons of users. A good number, more than there should be. They had a run of frames - THAT THEY ARE REPLACING - when appropriate to do so. The frames had too much flex. They've held tighter spec on the polymer, and the problem is fixed. There are still older units out there, waiting to be purchased. Some of those will have issues, some not. There is no recall - and we can debate that if you wish.

Second - Why are you putting words in Marlin's mouth? He never said anything about having a problem like yours. Its not there. Its not in his post, so how about sticking to HIS problem in HIS post?

I'm sorry your wife had a hard time. I wonder if the shop really sent it to Kahr, or just tried to fix it themselves. I've never known, in a year now, of Kahr ever, not once ever, dropping the ball on anyone, and telling them to go pound sand. People give up on Kahr, but not the other way round. Yah, sometimes - like everyone else - they need to see a pistol more than once. Maybe yours was one of those, maybe it wasn't.

It was your first Kahr and your last (you say), yet you stick around here to stick your opinion of doom on some poor blokes plea for help. Shame.

[josp]

When using cheap practice ammo I sometimes get your issue, but never with my Corbon jhp carry ammo. Not an issue as I see it.
"Dissapointed" that's a shame your wife had trouble. I've had 9 Kahrs, only a
CW40 gave me problems but they fixed it. Still have three, a P45, PM9, and P380.
Had a glock blow up in my hand. They fixed it and I still have one of those too. Anything made by man can fail. Don't get me started on my wife's minivan.

[marlin]

Ammo used for the 200 round breakin was 100 WWB flat nose, 50 Remington and 50 PMC. all were 95 grain.

As I said the slide hangs open with the release notch about 1/8" from its normal position if the lever were to engauge.

The magazines are short. The base plate is tight against the frame. I really have to slap them home or they will not catch. My PM9 has magazines that appear too long? Seems Kahr would be consistant with magazine fit design.

[CJB]

Ammo used for the 200 round breakin was 100 WWB flat nose, 50 Remington and 50 PMC. all were 95 grain.

As I said the slide hangs open with the release notch about 1/8" from its normal position if the lever were to engauge.

The magazines are short. The base plate is tight against the frame. I really have to slap them home or they will not catch. My PM9 has magazines that appear too long? Seems Kahr would be consistant with magazine fit design.

Marlin ol' chap - you didn't say, which was my point to Disappointed.

What you have is a problem with the WWB flat nose. They dont feed well in a lot of 380's. Flat nose? What were they thinking?

Try this - get another box of QUALITY ammo, with a full metal jacket round nose. The 95g should be ok. Clean and lube as per the sticky in the PM section of this board. Go shoot another box - see how that works for you.

The 380's as a whole tend to be a little more finicky than 9mms, but that WWB flat nose stuff is getting a bad reputation.

Also... the magazine fit... may be less room on the bottom of the frame. The PM9 sticks out a little, by design. Its there so you can grab it in the unlikely event of a case jamming and not being able to be cleared or allow the magazine to drop. You need a compact mag that still allows manual withdrawal should the need arise - and thats how Kahr does it. Sorry - no personal experience with short magazines/long frame on the P380 - but from Kahr website
http://www.kahr.com/GetDynamicImage.aspx?dir=itemImages&path=P380-w-LCI1671.jpg&w=326&h=278

Looks a little snugger on the bottom than the PM9's.

[rjt123]

+1. My P380 didn't like the WWB flat nose stuff, but it did fine with the Blazer. It was also good with the Buffalo Bore +P round I chose for carry.

[marlin]

The WWB were flat nose. Remington and PMC were round nose FMJ - same problem.

I hope to visit the range again this weekend to try other grip styles. I have racked the slide many times and can't feel any tight spots.

[jocko]

disapointed,IMO u best peddle it and moveo to a good gun that pleases u and ur wife. no doubt ur come on here pissed off and it seems our members who want to help are being ignored. U tried alot of things to no avail, so just peddle it and move on to a good gun, and leave these POS kahrs to us forum members who seem to love them alot..

[Cokeman]

Bummer, looks like you got burned just like tons of p380 owners including my wife did. She bought a brand new one a month ago. Problem after problem after problem. Had several different people and styls used to make sure we were not OH NO "limp wristing it". Nope. Several 'proper" lube jobs, Nope. Several different ammos used. Nope. Piece of crap brand new out of box, YES. She worte kahr an e-mail, and sent it back via the gun store she bought it. They did not even have the decency to contact here back regarding anything. That was her/our 1st kahr purchase and definitely our last. The hoops you have to jump through to get a p380 to shoot right??? What a joke.
P.S. Her gun had several issues. However the main one was just like yours. The slide woudl not close the last 1/8" after shooting a roudn through it. in other words the bullet would not seat. Lots of kahr owners say polish it, work with it, lube it, spend $$$ on tons of ammo to break it in. For a new $550.00 gun?

We know. Your name says it all. You have voiced your opinion all over this forum. If you don't like the gun why are you still here? Revenge?

[kerby9mm]

I have to agree with CJB. I am getting the Royal treatment from Kahr cs on issues that are minor compared to yours. You already bought the gun give them a chance to make it right. It hasn't cost me any money for it to go back for the 3rd time. It will cost you to dump it at least 40% of whatt you paid plus it will be what you wanted when its fixed.

[Cokeman]

I shot mine again today. It's so awesome. I set up two pieces of glass and two light bulbs. I blasted all four with four shots. I shot American Eagle and expected it not to do well. It was fine. I found one shell that was a bit crunched though. It didn't jam in the gun or anything, so I can't figure out what caused the damage. Any ideas?

[Retlawman590]

We know. Your name says it all. You have voiced your opinion all over this forum. If you don't like the gun why are you still here? Revenge?

I'm a complete newbie here, but not to handguns and that's my impression as well. You will not find many more reliable .380s than the Kahr. You will read bad stories abut all of them The Seecamp, Sig P238, Kaht P3AT, Ruger LCP and on and on. If you want the most reliable .380, look at th at Sig P232, it's big though. The smaller the handgun, the more finicky it's going to be. Even look at the worlds smallest and most expensive .380s, the Seecamp. Great gun, but issues there also. Personally, if you're not happy, sell it and buy a PM9 if you still want to stay micro or a Glock 26 if you don't.

[marlin]

Follow up Report:

Back to the range after a good cleaning and additional ammo. I paid special attention to my grip. The slide hang problem did not reoccur. Fired 50 rounds of Federal FMJ, 95 grain - no problem, 18 rounds Remington FMJ, 95 grain - no problem, 18 rounds Tula, 91 grain, FMJ - Some feed issues, hung on feed ramp slope, 24 rounds Remington JHP, 88 grain - Some feed issues, round hung on feed ramp slope. Magazines were filled with 6 rounds from same manufacturer each reload but I did not shot the same manufacturers rounds back to back. I thought the gun would run differently as it got dirty. I still have the dirty empty case issue.

I also experienced two Remington rounds that did not fire. Both occured as 3rd or 4th rounds in magazine. Actually the firing pin did not strike the primer, the gun did not cock, trigger returned to normal position but striker/firing pin did not engauge.

The gun ran much better this time and placed shots well. It just seems to have random issues that make me hesitant to depend on it. I think sticking with my PM9 is the best option.